A microfiche appendix having 5 microfiche and 414 frames is included herewith.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a mechanism used to view effective dated persistent objects and their relationships and, more particularly, to a system which provides a simplified graphical user interface including a tree control for viewing and obtaining detailed information about the objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
Complex systems today are typically implemented using object oriented languages. The objects of such systems need to be updated over time, and an historical record of these updates needs to be available in the user interface. The objects can also have complex relationships between them.
What is needed is a system that displays an intuitive representation of related objects over effective dated time intervals.
It is an objective of the present invention to use object oriented technology to display complex information in a visually descriptive and flexible manner.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an intuitive graphical user interface for viewing and manipulating effective dated persistent objects.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a user with the ability to view the objects with user specified time periods.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a display that allows the user to view effective dated relationships and future dated changes simultaneously.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an interface that allows the user to drill down or obtain additional information about the objects.
The above objects can be attained by a system that provides a graphical user interface and process for creating the interface that displays an effective dated tree control. The control shows past, current and future events associated with the objects represented in the control. The control also allows the user to select the objects and display their information.
These together with other objects and advantages which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.